Try sowing them in a seed tray. Lightly cover the seeds with compost then bung them in a corner where they'll be exposed to all the elements.....sun, frost, snow, wind, rain, the lot.

Then in March, bring them into the warm and let them germinate.

The problem with Jap maples is you just don't know what will come up. Some will be green, some red leaved and some in between. You will be better off potting them up, growing them on for a year or two and see what grows. I used to sell loads for a pound each at the car boots sales and to Bonsai enthusiasts.

Good luck

Many thanks for your prompt reply I will give it a go.

Not sure that there is a market for unidentified acer seeds and you can't sell them as a named variety based on the parent plant you have as they will, most probably, be crossbreeds.

Agree with Urbanite there is no market for unidentified acer seeds. As Badfish suggests try growing some yourself but don't expect them to be like the parent tree.

I had to laugh at this, sorry - sell em!? I'd pay someone to take them away, if they all germinate you'd be weeding for months... most acers seem to have produced seeds this year, I'm not looking forward to weeding next year.

Not sure if it's just Jap maples but i have several mature ttrees which produce hundreds of seeds every year....and ive never had a single one germinate.

Could the parent plants produce some sort of chemical to stop them germinating and therefore stop competition...seems a bit counter productive to go to all that trouble producing seeds then kill them off !!!!!

Sycamore is the very devil for germinating freely, Badfish, but you're right, I can't say I've noticed a garden full of Japanese acer seedlings - but to be fair, most years, the japanese acers I tend in various gardens don't produce many seeds anyway. Next year will be the test really, all the acers I have under my wing have produced myriads of seeds this year, must have been the weather. Maybe some of those 'sycamore' seedlings I'm having to take out year on year are actually from japanese acers though, given they don't come true.

Good point Bamboo